HTC AND TELSTRA UNLEASH THE HTC WILDFIRE

Apps, Friend Stream, HTC Sense, Media Sync feature on HTC’s most social mobile yet.

Sydney, Australia – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, joined with Telstra to unveil its latest Android™mobile – the HTC Wildfire™. The HTC Wildfire is Telstra’s first Android smartphone to be offered to pre-paid customers and is designed to help people connect with friends and family on the move through a suite of social networking features. It will be available in Australia from 24 August to both pre-paid and post-paid customers exclusively on Telstra’s Next G™ Network – Australia’s largest and fastest national 3G network.

Featuring a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash and HTC’s Friend Stream app which seamlessly gathers social networking updates into a single stream, HTC’s Wildfire allows customers to bring their friends with them, wherever they go. Next-generation Caller ID and the ability to share apps straight from the phone are some of the great new features available on the HTC Wildfire. In addition, HTC Wildfire comes with a new version of HTC Sync (Sync 3.0) that is packed with new features, and includes a media sync that is compatible with popular media players available on a PC. This enables customers to bring their favourite tunes, playlists, pictures and more to their phone with the click of a button.

“Following in the footsteps of the HTC Desire, the HTC Wildfire addresses the Social Networking Generation – those younger audiences who want to bring their friends closer to them through app sharing and the integration of social networks - all at a cost effective price,” said Anthony Petts, Sales and Marketing Director ANZ, HTC Corporation. “With Media Sync, they can also now carry around their favourite music and photos more easily.”

“With the explosion of interest in smartphones, our pre-paid customers have been asking Telstra for a good value way to get in on the action,” said Richard Fink, Director, Telstra Mobility Products. “HTC Wildfire is our first pre-paid smartphone for Next G™ customers and provides a terrific way for people to start enjoying features like mobile web browsing and watching video clips on the go. We know our customers will love the HTC Wildfire’s compact size and its easy-to-use menus that can be filled with thousands of fun Android apps and games.”

HTC WILDFIRE HIGHLIGHTS
Check Facebook, Twitter and Flickr at the same time with HTC’s Friend Stream
View friends’ Facebook updates, Tweets and Flickr photos in one organised stream, all on the same screen.

HTC’s next-generation Caller ID
Along with the traditional Caller ID features of caller name and number, HTC’s next-generation Caller ID now includes additional information such as friend’s birthday and Facebook status updates. In addition, each contact viewed in HTC Wildfire’s address book includes a thread of recent communications with that person, including the last conversation, recent text messages and emails.

Recommend apps with HTC’s new app sharing widget
Apps can now be shared straight from the user’s phone to their friends by sending a link via Facebook, Twitter and a host of other social networking sites or Friend Stream, as well as email and sms. This link allows users to find the app on the Android Market™ with a single click and download it to their phone. There are thousands of apps available on Android Market – including games, social-networking apps and new arrivals every day.

Friends are just one tap away

The People Widget feature can be used to find group of friends straight from the home screen. Calling, texting or emailing is only one tap away.

Browsing is better

The HTC Wildfire comes with full Flash support for online video, pinch-to-zoom page resizing, and auto rotation from portrait to landscape. It also comes with useful reference tools including one-touch dictionary, translation and Wikipedia lookup.

Exclusive Telstra content and apps

Telstra customers enjoy a large range of unmetered BigPond® entertainment, including news, sport, music and weather. Telstra’s new Tribe® service offers customers free-to-browse social networking within Australia by bringing together Facebook®, Twitter™ and MySpace™ in a single mobile portal . Telstra customers can also subscribe to exclusive content including Mobile FOXTEL from Telstra and AFL and NRL apps.

Faster texting with Swype™

HTC Wildfire is the first Telstra smartphone to feature Swype™ text input technology. Swype allows customers to glide their finger across a virtual keyboard to spell words, rather than tapping out each letter. This can make it even faster to compose emails, text messages and to search the web.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICING
The HTC Wildfire will be available starting 24 August exclusively to Telstra customers (until 15 November). Telstra Pre-Paid customers can purchase the HTC Wildfire outright for $349. Customers can team it with Telstra’s new Pre-Paid Cap+ offer which buys customers bonus credit to use on standard national calls and SMS to Australian and international numbers. For instance, customers who recharge $30 can receive a $170 bonus credit for voice calls and SMS to Australian and International numbers and 50MB of bonus data. The more customers recharge the higher the bonus credit. More information: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/prepaid/latestoffers/cap-plus.html

* Fone Zone will offer the HTC Wildfire in Pure White (Post-Paid variant only) exclusively from 24 August (until 28 September when the colour becomes available from all Telstra stores and partners).
* Telstra Stores and Partners will offer HTC Wildfire in Phantom Black from 6 September on Pre-Paid, with Pure White to be made available from the 28th September.
* Customers can also purchase HTC Wildfire on a range of Telstra Post-Paid plans including for $0 upfront on Telstra’s $49 Cap Plan when signing up for 24 months (Min Cost $1,176) from 24 August.